Ivanhoe boss robert friedland , with a 22 per cent stake , knows he is sitting on one of the richest and most strategic mineral deposits anywhere in the world , which even abuts the world 's largest consumer of copper , and wants a fitting control premium .
This area abuts the border with turbulent somalia and is populated mainly by ethnic somalis traditionally hostile to the government in addis ababa , the capital .
The army has sandbagged defensive positions at street corners in the rebellious district of bab sbaa , a mainly sunni quarter that abuts one dominated by the minority alawite sect , to which president bashar assad 's family belongs .
The project abuts territory controlled by the kachin independence organisation ( kio ) , one of a plethora of ethnic insurgencies that have battled the central government for decades .